Help:Style guide/Quotes

See also: Responses.

“

Ya got anything smart ta say now? Click to listen — The Scout

”

"Can I get quote on that?"

This is the Quotation Style Guide for the use of quotes on the Team Fortress Wiki.

Many pages on the Team Fortress Wiki contain quotations at the top of pages, sometimes elsewhere. These may be a direct reference to the article's subject from sources such as a publicity blurb, or simply an unrelated quote from a class response that fits well with the subject matter. Most of the time, these quotes are just decorations on the page, and humorously appear as if the classes are giving their opinions about the article's subject.

See Quotation template usage documentation.

{{Quotation|'''Quotation source'''|Quoted text.}}

“

Quoted text. — Quotation source

”

General guidelines

• It is not necessary that any page have a quote; it is better that there be no quote, than a quote that contributes nothing to the subject. If there is no quote on a page, nothing is missing.
• It is not necessary that any quote have a quote description; it is better that there be no quote description, than a quote description that contributes nothing to the quote. If there is no quote description on a good self-explanatory quote, nothing is missing.
  • If the quote needs a quote description to be remotely interesting or relevant, maybe there could be a better quote.
• If the page has an infobox (e.g., Item infobox, or Map infobox), or a lead image, the quote template is placed after the infobox template, or image, but before the lead section.
• Try not to use the same quote on multiple pages.
• If the article is about an item that is used by only one class, try to use a quote from that class if at all possible.
• If a consensus cannot be reached about which quote to use, either the moderators will have the final say, or the page will simply not be given a quote.

Quoted text

Almost without exception, the text is quoted from Valve content, particularly printed or spoken content of any media related to Team Fortress 2. Often, quotations are selected from Responses, but also include quips from Comics, Movies, Update pages, item and map descriptions, and even Blog posts. The best quotes are usually pithy; long Item Descriptions, Update, or other text are to be avoided, and should be trimmed if used at all. A Workshop description can be acceptably quoted if it is really good and actually relevant to the released content.

Specific quotes

Quotes that have a direct specific reference to the subject of the article should be used over a quote that does not have a direct reference. The specific quote may only be replaced if it is not interesting or good. For example, the Kritzkrieg's original publicity blurb was "This new medigun uses its Übercharge not for invulnerability, but to give its recipient 100% chance to fire critical ordinance.". This is a simple description of the item and does not add anything to the article, as this same information is right under the quote itself.

Quotation source

The quotation source parameter identifies the source of the quotation (person, character, publication). The Wiki's format for the Quotation source parameter is

'''<attributer>''' <quote description>

such that the attributer name or identity of the source is bolded while the optional quote description is in plain italics.

Attributer

The attributer identifies the source of the quote, which can be a person, character, or any Valve content related to Team Fortress.

• Player characters are written as The Scout, The Heavy, The Spy, etc.
• Non-player character attributers include The Administrator, Saxton Hale, Miss Pauling, Merasmus, Whitaker, etc.

(The attributer can have a link to the source's article, but that is usually unnecessary.)

• For text quoted from item and map update or workshop descriptions, it is common to bold the item or map name followed by the unbolded description; "publicity blurb".
• Alternatively, styles like "from Brimstone's spooky workshop description" can be used.
• For speech quoted from Valve media, an unbolded link should be provided to the source Comic page or Movie timestamp (example on War Dog; — Soldier, Unhappy Returns).

Quote descriptions

Sometimes text may be added after the quote's attributer, in order to add context. This should be used sparingly, such as when the choice of quote will make little sense without additional context. A quote description should never be used if the relevance of the quote is obvious. If there is no quote description, usually the original editor intended that there not be any description. In certain past episodes, a few editors have added several such unnecessary descriptions to quotations never intended to have any descriptions . This is no help to Team Fortress Wiki; rather, it is actually a small service to the Wiki to remove unnecessary descriptions.

For example; the following quote is used for the article on the Chieftain's Challenge.

“

Screamin' Eagles! Click to listen — The Soldier

”

 Good description. We already know War bonnets are made of eagle feathers.

“

Screamin' Eagles! Click to listen — The Soldier on what noise is made when an eagle elevates its voice

”

 Bad description. We already know how the quote is related to the article, and this "explanation" that has nothing to do with the item is not needed.